Standalone Intelligent Autoloader with Modularization Architectures and Self-adaptive Motion Control Ability for Mass Optical Disks Duplication

ABSTRACT

An autoloader system with modularization architecture and self-adaptive motion control ability for mass optical disks duplication includes four physical modules: a robot arm module with sensors and joints dedicates for delivering and picking up optical disks; an optical disk duplication tower has a number of optical drives in a stack, or a matrix for optical disk duplication; a motion control module has an embedded motion controller and a power source to synchronize the motion of robot arm and duplication; a platform module has a base frame to fix other modules and a user interface. Some disk stacks are situated on top of platform module. The use of a self-adaptive control algorithm, consisting of a Motion Strategy Database, Initial Process, Motion Planning Process, Motion Generation Process and Motion Monitor Process, to ascertain system configurations and components furthest satisfy the required flexibility for modifying/upgrading hardware or ever-changing user needs. The use of DC motors and self-correcting adaptive algorithm provides better versatility to disk copier systems than most commonly used stepper motors, even in the case of “short tray” wherein the tray does not fully extend out. The stand-alone design of present invention further makes the use and operation of the disk copier easier and friendlier.

FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the design and constructionof an optical disk autoloader and copier and can be used on CD, VCD, DVDand any other formats of audio/video and computer IT (informationtechnology) disks.

The optical disk, including the format of CD, VCD, DVD, has been apopular data storage and exchange media of today. From film industry tosmall business, high volume disk duplication with minimal manpower is ondemand. Using a robot arm to automatically load blank writable disks tooptical record drives and pickup the formalized disk out is one of thesolutions.

Today, we are facing the reality that the different types of opticaldisks on the market have increased substantially. The original compactdisk (CD) were diversified to CD Audio, CD-Graphics, CD-Text, CD-Extra,CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, CD-I, Video CD, Photo CD, CD-I Bridge, etc.Currently, the new Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) technology has maturedas a high capacity CD-size disc for video, multimedia, games and audioapplication. More complicated diversity has come into the horizon, e.g.DVD-ROM, DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, DVD-RAW, DVD-RW, DVD-R, and hybridformats DVDplus. In the future, Blu-ray and HD DVD will no doubt createmore uncertainty and diversity to the optical disk marketing. Besidesthe digital optical storing formats, the physical size and coating ofthe optical disks are also subject to other variations: mini-cd modifiesthe standard 12 cm CD size to a business card size or even smaller, andthe shape of optical disks may not be a circle but a rectangle, a heartshape or any number of prototypes being worked on.

In today's commercial autoloader design, the robot arm only follow afixed motion plan dedicated from factory-preset configuration; it cannot be easily modified, maintained and updated by end users to respondand correspond to the changes brought about by the fast-paced-technicaldevelopments and ever-changing diverse optical data storage formats. Forexample, to reduce cost, space or other considerations, more and moremodels of optical drives has short tray or no tray, and can not be usedwith the present autoloader systems; the arm can not grab some min CDwith specific size and shape; only a limited optical disk format can berecognized and duplicated; the on-site maintenance, repair and updatecapabilities are limited, or are translated into very costly propositionbecause of the limitation.

Furthermore, almost all the available disk copier systems in the markettoday uses stepper motors or servo motions, which is a form of digitalmotion actuator coupled with the use of a external computer. Althoughthe incorporation of stepper/servo motors and external computers easesthe construction of a disk copier system, it comes at the expense ofreduced flexibility in adjusting to robotic arm movement. Such is thecase as evidenced by the prior art of Lee et al. U.S. Pat. No.5,914,918, Miller U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,298, Miller U.S. Pat. No.6,208,612, Miller U.S. Pat. No. 6,532,198, and Miller U.S. Pat. No.6,822,932.

Though users in this industry are starting to feel the problem, nothingis done to remediate the problem that the mixed functionality of presentday autoloader design without distinctively separating out the functions(robot arm motion control, duplication, monitoring/sensing/feedback, anduser interface, for example), the challenges and difficulties willcontinue to rise.

With the increasing demands on technology and complexity of software andmechanical systems, the reuse of software and mechanical components isbecoming more and more important and a key factor in software andmechanical development practice.

Moreover, components are useful fragments of a system that can beassembled with other fragments to form larger pieces or completeapplications. Hence, system should be developed by composing availablecomponents, and evolve by updating components replacing them with newerversions.

Indeed, in the autoloader duplication system, the better mechanismshould be the module/component basis as proposed and claimed by presentinvention, resulting in re-usable components/modules and minimumcomponent need to be replaced or modified or combined to build, and tosatisfy the requirement of ever-changing diversity in the duplicationmachines market.

This invention uses modularization construction which is the keysolution for improving the flexibility and comprehensibility of asystem. A module in this invention can be either hardware (mechanical),or software (programming logic implemented with appropriate programmingtools of choice), or combination of hardware/software forming aparticular functional unit.

Although some prior art patents, such as Drynkin et al. U.S. Pat. No.6,636,426 disclosed and claimed the use of DC motors having sensorfeedback, Drynkin completely differs from present invention in that itlacks the modularization construction, either in the sense of physicalhardware functional unit, or in the sense of software control modules,of present invention.

The modification for one module will not affect others. An end user canselect a specific module combination to realize his application withminimum cost.

Most optical disk copiers today need to be hooked up with computers.Their operations are complicated, as a result. Present inventionenvisions the design and construction of an optical disk copier/loaderto be a stand-alone system with easy user interface.

Moreover, most optical disk copiers come with factory pre-configuredoperation setting and thus do not contain modular design to allow, forexample, the possibility of reconfiguration due to new type ofwriters/drives being put in place.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention uses the modularization configuration design constructionand self-adaptive algorithms to solve the above problems, increasing theflexibility of robotic maneuvers in diversiform requirements. Thissystem is divided to four physical modules with different functions: anoptical disk duplication tower, a robot arm, a control and power unit,and a platform with user interface. The four modules can be easilyassembled and combination with different model of modules by the enduser.

Implementing the logical control of present system is a set of speciallydesigned self-adaptive control algorithm made of four logicalprocess-modules and one updatable motion strategy database. This controlalgorithm will identify the system configuration/combination in itsinitial state, and then based on this combination, it loadscorresponding joints trajectory from trajectory database. Moreover, thereference trajectory and control rules can be real-time modified by theself-studying methods in the adaptive algorithm. Furthermore, thereference database can be upgraded by end-user from feeding the newresource disk into one of the optical drive in the system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate the preferred embodiments of theinvention and together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows the overall modularization view of this invention inmechanical descriptive geometry.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of present invention'soperational control flow.

FIG. 3 shows an assembling schematic of the motion control and powermodule.

FIG. 4 shows an assembling schematic of the duplication tower module

FIG. 5 shows an assembling schematic of the robot arm module

FIG. 6 shows an assembling schematic of the platform module

FIG. 7 shows disks stacks as represented by one spindle.

FIG. 8 shows an assembling schematic of the disk stacks with fourpillars.

FIG. 9 shows the modular control and implementation of softwareprocess-modules used in the self-adaptive algorithm.

FIG. 10 shows the exemplar velocity/position of a 1-D trajectory.

Table 1 shows the exemplar layout in the Motion Strategy Database.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In FIG. 1, the overall physical module design of present invention isshown. Four physical modules are envisioned in present invention:

1. control and power unit having an embedded motion control board and acommunication channel;

2. duplication tower containing writer drives (in any of the formatsmentioned above) and an embedded duplication control board;

3. robotic arm containing joints and sensors, and controlled by multipleactuators implemented by DC motors; and,

4. platform (base) providing user interface and geometry datum plane.

Additionally, a number of disk stacks, in the form of spindles, arelocated on the platform. Conceptually, these disk stacks can also betreated as modules depending individual implementation of any variationsbased on the disclosure of present invention.

Every module has its intended function in this invention, and can beassembled and replaced separately by end users. Their mechanicalgeometry relationships, e.g. related location, form, profile,orientation, and runout on a dimensioned feature, are controlled by thegeometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) method. Its purpose is toensure proper assembly and/or operation of modules, and it is especiallyuseful in this quantity production of interchangeable modules. Thecomplete definition of the method is given in the ANSI StandardY14.5M-1999, which is a public standards and incorporated herein to thisapplication. The logic relationships of the four modules are predefinedin a program executed by a microcontroller based embedded system 3-26,as shown in FIG. 3. A serial transfer communication channel, such asstandard RS232, is used to transfer information among the four modules.When the power is turned on, the four modules will send their uniqueidentification numbers (ID) to the embedded system 3-26. Once theembedded system receives these ID, it will search its database andgenerate a motion control trajetory to sequence and synchronize themotion of every module.

The logical operational flow of the disk copier system as envisioned bypresent invention can be briefly shown as FIG. 2. A renewable database2-1 which used to store the referenced motion control strategies ispre-created by a motion control strategy generator 2-2. Manufacturerswill supply a default set of motion strategy generator and parametersbased on the specific models that are put into the disk copier systembuilt in accordance with the disclosure of present invention. Theduplication model (e.g. the optical drive and burner information), themechanical geometry relationships, and other conditions are entered intothis generator. Then an end-effecter trajectory and sequence will begenerated. An inverse kinematics function will generate the referencedjoints trajectory. Different combinations of the inputs generatedifferent referenced motion strategies and corresponded modules ID.These inputs vs. strategies pairs are stored as a database. Afterconverted to binary code, it can be stored in a refreshable memory 2-1.This memory can be a separately unit or just a part of the embeddedmotion controller 3-26. In the power-on initial processing (referring toFIG. 9), the embedded motion controller will collect the ID of allmodules, search the whole database 2-1, and determine the proper motionstrategies. Based on the motion strategies, the motion command will besend out to the execution units, e.g. motor, pump, etc. At the sametime, the joint sensor, the end-effecter sensors and duplication burnerwill be the feedback chain. This feedback chain is used to monitor theexecution results of the executed motion strategy, and at the same time,trigger new motion sequential thereafter.

As shown in FIG. 3, the control and power module is a separate box withbase frame 3-17 and housing 3-27. Inside the box there is an AC to DCpower inverter 3-24 which converts 110 or 220 voltage AC current to 5and 12 volt DC current. The inverted DC current is used as the powersource by all of the electrical driven units in this invention. Theembedded motion controller 3-26 is fixed at the top of the AC to DCpower inverter by a board fix kit 3-25. A Pump 3-21 is one of theexecution units controlled by the embedded motion controller 3-26. Thepurpose of the pump is supplying air suction to the vacuum gripper 5-16in FIG. 5. A valve 3-18 is connected with the pump by a pipe line 3-23,a three direction air connector 3-22, and an air connector 3-19. Thevalve is used to control the direction of air flow between the pump andthe vacuum gripper. A suction or release action will then be generatedby the vacuum gripper. The valve is directly fixed on the base frame3-17.

To reduce the vibration noise generated by the pump, the pump isindirectly fixed on the base frame 3-17 by an “L” shape transition kit3-20. The orientation of the robot arm module can be rotated by a motor3-1. Any types of motor, e.g. stepping, DC, servo motor can be used asthe motor 3-1 as long as the rated torque of the motor is bigger thanthe requirement of the robot arm rotation. The different selection ofmotor will be refereed to the module ID number. The actually motor modelwill be identified in the initial processing, and proper motion controlstrategies will be selected. The motor is upside-down fixed on the baseframe by a motor fix kit 3-2. Since motors are typically operated at toohigh of a speed and deliver too low a torque to be appropriate for therobot arm orientation application, a belt-drives speed reductionmechanism is applied to reduce rotational speed, and increase the torquein proportion. A smaller drive pulley 3-3 is attached to the motorshaft, while a large diameter pulley 3-11 is attached to a parallelshaft that operates at a correspondingly lower speed. A synchronous belt3-8 is used as flexible power transmission element to transfer therotation power between two pulleys. The large diameter pulley 3-11 and arotation platform 3-10 are tightness fit with a bushing 3-13. The robotarm module is placed on the top of the rotation platform. Due to thetightness fit, the rotation motion generated by the large diameterpulley 3-11 is transferred to the bushing, and the rotation platform. Ashaft 3-16 is fixed on the base frame 3-17, and looseness fit with thebushing.

In this application, the shaft provides the rotation support for thebushing. In the rotation axis direction, the related motion of the bush,pulley, and rotation platform is restricted by a collar 3-6, spacers3-7, and a locknut 3-9. An buffer plate 3-12, and the rotation platform3-10, restrict the motion of timing belt 3-8 at the rotation axisdirection. A dual channel phototransistor 3-15 is placed at the edge ofthe rotation platform and is fixed on the base frame by a sensor kit3-14. The encoder marked at the edge of the rotation platform is read bythe dual channel phototransistor. Based on the feedback information fromthe dual channel phototransistor, the embedded controller controls themotor rotation to orientate the robot arm module to the desireddirection. A half-circle cover 3-5 and a dual channel sensor cover areplaced to cover the rotation parts.

The duplication tower module, as shown in the FIG. 4, has a housingwhich includes cover 4-1, one or two cooling fans 4-2, a rear cover 4-3,a drive frame and a front cover 4-6. Inside this housing, multipleoptical drives 4-5, e.g. CDRW, CDR, DVDR, DVDRW, etc, are placed in onestack, or a matrix to convert the data between the digital binary formatand optical format.

Multiple writer drives are used in present invention. These drives arecommercially available models and are not claimed in and of themselvesas part of this invention, except the manner as they are described andclaimed in combination with other components of present invention.

A hard drive 4-7 or other digital data source is used to store thedigital binary data. The data and control flow among the optical drivesand hard drive is controlled by a duplication burner 4-8. From theseries communication channel, e.g. RS232, the duplication burnercommunicates with the embedded motion controller to transfer the statusinformation of each other. The duplication processing is synchronizedwith the robot arm motion so that the motion of loading blank disk andunloading duplicated optical disk motion can be repeated automatically.In terms of duplication tower modules, different ID number correspondsto a different combination of components and customs' requirement, e.g.optical drives, burner controller, and the number of drives.

Multiple writer drives are used in present invention. These drives arecommercially available models and are not claimed in and of themselvesas part of this invention, except the manner as they are described andclaimed in combination with other components of present invention.

The robot arm module, as shown in the FIG. 5, has a linear (prismatic)joint with a vacuum grab 5-16, a columniation 5-4, and a forearm 5-10.The optical disks can be suctioned up by the vacuum grab and lifted upand down with the motion of the linear joint. The robot arm can berotated on the rotation platform, effectuating a cylindrical coordinatemotion: one rotary (revolute) motion and one linear (prismatic) motion.A motor is placed at the top of the columniation 5-4, and be covered bya motor cover 5-2. Again, any types of motor, e.g. stepping, DC, servomotor can be used as the motor 5-3 as long as the rated torque of themotor is bigger than the requirement of the forearm up-and-down motion.

A drive pulley 5-1 is attached to the motor shaft, while another samediameter pulley 5-25 is attached to a parallel shaft 5-26 that operatesat a same speed. A synchronous belt is used as flexible powertransmission element to transfer the rotation power between two pulleys.A synchronous kit 5-5 is fixed with the forearm and the synchronousbelt; and transfers the up and down motion of synchronous belt to theforearm. Three sets of bearing-shaft combination (5-6, 5-7, and 5-8) areplaced to support the forearm smoothly moving on the surface of thecolumniation.

A sensor board 5-23 with a left trigger 5-20, a right trigger 5-22, andtwo photo sensors 5-19 are used as end-effector sensors to detect theoptical disk and obstacle. Once both of the triggers are affected, theembedded controller will note that the forearm touches an obstacle, ifonly the left trigger is affected, the embedded controller notes it isan optical disk. There are two more photo sensors on the board to readthe encoder on the columniation. This feedback will be used by theembedded controller to control the up and down position of the forearm.

The vacuum grab 5-16 has three cupules 5-17 and 5-18. One air connector5-15 is connecting with the vacuum pump by a pipe line. Three shafts5-13 and one shaft block 5-11 are used to smooth the stress under impactwhen the grabber touches an object, such as an optical disk. The wholerobot arm is covered by an arm cover 5-27. Normally, the three cupulesare distributed on a 44 millimeter circles. But in some specialapplication, the three cupules may have different distribution to grabsome compact optical disks with special size and shape, such as the miniCD; a mechanical grabber has to be used to grab the disk from the centerhole of a disk instate of the vacuum grabber. It can avoid the grabbertouching the coating on the disk surface. Moreover, the robotconfigurations, such as the number of joints, the motion of joints andreach (the maximum distance a robot can reach within its work envelope),can be modified to satisfy special design requirements. In all of theabove special situations, a dedicated ID module number is assigned toevery modified design.

The platform module, as shown in FIG. 6, provides a user interface 6-3to users: LCD on this interface is connected with the duplication burnerand embedded motion controller to monitor the system status of thisinvention, and several touch button used to send the supervisorycommands to the burner and controller. The standard ASCII commands areused as the protocol in the communication between the interface with theburner or controller. An upper 6-2 and an under 6-1 platform are used asa geometry datum plane to support and fix other modules on above.

The disks stacks, as shown in FIG. 7, includes a spindle 7-3, a salver7-2, and a stack base 7-1. The stack base is fixed on the platform; thespindle and the slaver are fixed together to load the stack of opticaldisks from their central hole. In the case, a mechanical grabber has tobe used to pick up a optical disk from its central hole, anotherconfiguration of disks stack has to be used as shown in FIG. 8. Fourpillars are circle around the disks.

The embedded duplication control board contains a microprocessor,Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and memory to control the data flowbetween writer drives I/O and data storage such as a hard drive byDirect Memory Access (DMA) or Interrupt-driven I/O method.

Disk copier system of present invention works in two distinct states:initial state and run state. In the initial state, trajectory for therobotic arm and all sensors are loaded in from a reference database. Inthe system run state, adaptive control algorithm with self-correctingfunction will monitor real-time feedback and cause new weighted averagetime for each segmented trajectory to be recalculated.

Implementation of the two system run states is accomplished by the setof self-adaptive control algorithm having the logical modules of oneMotion Strategy Database and four processes of Initial Process, MotionPlanning Process, Motion Generating Process and Motion Monitor Process.

Referring to the FIG. 9 for architecture of the algorithm, which can beimplemented by commercially available programming tools, such as C++,the Initial Process determines the modules comprising the presentconfiguration and selects a corresponding motion strategy from thebuilt-in Motion Strategy Database. Motion Planning sets up theparameters required for the proper motion of the robotic arm based onthe strategy chosen in the previous step.

The actuators in the system are then driven by the commands sent outfrom the Motion Generation Process and make the robotic arm follow thedesired trajectory.

Meanwhile, Motion Monitoring Process collects feedback from sensors in areal-time basis. The information obtained reflects the externalenvironment to which the Motion Planning should accommodate in order toensure the smooth and precise operation. It is also feasible to updatethe built-in Motion Strategy Database in a period of time with datacumulated in the Motion Monitoring Process and make the initial motionstrategy most appropriate and up to date upon power-on next time. Thewhole design including the database and four processes achieves the goalthat the system self-adapts to the present configuration of modules andenvironment with little user interference.

Motion Strategy Database consists of a set of control parameters used todefine the behaviors (aka loading trajectory) of all actuators.According to the type of actuators, control parameters may vary. Thespeed parameter for a DC motor of present invention controlled by pulsewidth modulation is the duty cycle with fixed pulse frequency.Specifically, the speed (rpm) of a DC motor with respect to time r(t) isa function of duty cycle with respect to time c(t): r(t)=f(c(t)).

Either the angular or translational velocity can be derived with theratio decided by the attached gear wheel and belt system. Theorientation and displacement of the robotic arm are hence calculated bythe integral of angular and translational velocity, respectively. Inpractice, present invention specifies the duty cycle in discrete timedomain rather than in continuous time domain,

${{p( T_{k + 1} )} = {a{\sum\limits_{i = {0\sim k}}\; {{f( {c( T_{i} )} )}( {T_{i + 1} - T_{i}} )}}}},$

where p(T_(k+1)) is the displacement at time step k+1, a the constantratio. The orientation is similarly derived. A desired motion trajectoryis achieved by providing every actuator its corresponding duty cyclefunction with respect to time step. Refer to FIG. 7 for illustration ofthe trajectory in one dimension along with the velocity function.

Table 1 shows the example database layout. Each row represents a presetmotion strategy for a certain configuration, and W_(b) ^(a)(t) is theset of parameters for all actuators in order to complete an action bunder the configuration a. An action could be a general movement such asloading discs from spindles to drive trays, or a fraction of motioninvolved in the aforesaid movement such as going down from the topposition to level of the drive 3. The database is stored in non-volatilestorage device with or without the capability of update.

Referring to FIG. 9, again, the Initial Process is responsible fordetermining the present configuration of the system and searches throughthe Motion Strategy Database described above to find a match. Aconfiguration is a certain combination of all modules forming the entiresystem, and a module may send out the identification informationactively or be recognized passively by the hardware settings.

The Motion Strategy Database should contain all possible configurationsand each configuration has exactly one corresponding motion strategy.Since motion strategies are indexed by their configurations, the searchis performed promptly. There is always a default motion strategy whichis selected whenever the match of current configuration cannot be found.

After Initial Process passes the motion strategy to Motion PlanningProcess, which will extract the parameters for each actuator dependingon the actions being carried out. Only one action is performed at themoment and the control parameters for actuators are sent to the motiongeneration process. In addition, this process takes into account thefeedback information of the action just executed from the MotionMonitoring Process to adjust the control parameters. The next time thesame action is requested, the revised parameters are applied instead ofthose set by the original strategy.

Ideally, the effect has to be exactly the same each time an action isperformed given the same control parameters. Closed loop control asimplemented by present adaptive algorithm is therefore adopted to ensurethat the robot arm completes designated actions and the adjustment ofcontrol parameters smoothes the motions without extra sensors.

Test data and statistics of present invention, as shown in FIG. 10,shows that the robot stays at origin for the first 6 seconds, startsmoving to 80 cm. with constant speed, and slows down until it arrives at98 cm. at 22 sec., regarding the tray of drive 3, for example. Theobstacle sensor also experiences a state transition simultaneouslyindicating that an obstacle has encountered and stops the motor. Ifsomehow the obstacle sensor is not triggered and the robot is 1 cm. awayfrom the tray, the velocity function has to change to compensate theunexpected consequence. Either the velocity increases slightly in orderto reach the designated position within the allowed time or the velocitymaintains for an extra duration until the sensor is triggered.

Vast methods can be applied in the adjustment computation, and weightedmoving average is implemented in this invention as following:

a _(i+1)=0.75a _(i)+0.25a _(i) ^(′),

where a_(i) is the forecasted value and a_(i) ^(′) the measured value.If we keep the value of velocity and consider that measured time is onesecond longer than the original allowed time in FIG. 2, a new forecastedvalue is calculated by

22.25=0.75(22)+0.25(23).

The next time the same action is requested, the motor will continue theoperation for extra 0.25 seconds to make up the differences, and a newforecasted value will be calculated again. Eventually, the controlparameters should converge to stable values and the robot realizes themotions requested smoothly.

In the Motion Generation Process, the control parameters are translatedinto control signals and sent out to the actuators through proper drivecircuitry. For a DC motor driven by pulse width modulation, rectangularwaveforms are generated and duty cycles are decided by the controlparameters. Again, control signals may vary depending on the type ofmotors being used, such as stepping and servo motors.

Referring to FIG. 9, the Motion Monitoring Process derived its feedbackand robotic arm positions by sensors installed in the system and recordsthe responses of these sensors at a fixed sampling rate faster enough toreflect the robot status. For a certain action like going down from thetop position and reaching the tray of drive 3, the sensors willexperience the state transition and the monitoring process would notedown the status when the requested action is complete and stop theactuators. The Motion Monitoring Process also provides feedbackinformation, such as actual execution velocity or time duration, to theMotion Planning Process to update the control parameters.

Self-adaptive algorithm takes effect in multiple aspects during thesystem operation. One example is the loading blank disc motion duringwhich the robotic arm picks up a disc from the disk stack module, movesto the duplication tower module and places the disc into the drive tray.

The height of the duplication tower may vary to stack diverse number ofoptical drives, and optical drives themselves are also not limited tosingle model. In case of different duplication tower modules ordifferent models of optical drives being assembled, different loadingmotion strategies have to be applied due to the changes of variousfactors that affect the loading motion such as the distance of the drivetray to the grabber, which determines the robotic motion when itapproaches the drive tray. The robotic arm goes down from the topposition in high speed and slows down when the distance between thegrabber and the drive tray decreases to a predefined value. Theself-adaptive motion control algorithm picks up a motion strategy bysearching a match in the Motion Strategy Database for the presentduplication tower module configuration. The algorithm also performsreal-time self-correction based on the feedback from sensors because ofpossible inaccuracies described in the previous section. The MotionPlanning-Motion Generation-Motion Monitoring processes cycles make thecontinuous system operations motion seamlessly.

Other application of self-adaptive control algorithm includes picking updiscs from spindles, picking up discs from drive trays, etc. Theseimplementations guarantee the operation of the system without losingflexibility and extensibility.

1. A Standalone Intelligent Autoloader with ModularizationArchitectures, comprising: a. A robotic arm further having multiplejoints and sensor and controlled by multiple actuators implemented by DCmotors; b. A duplication tower further having an embedded duplicationcontrol board and multiple writer drives; c. A control and power unitfurther having an embedded motion control board and a communicationchannel between said duplication tower and said embedded motion controlboard. d. A platform having disk stacks, user interface and geometrydatum plane. e. A specially designed self-adaptive control algorithmfurther consisting of a Motion Strategy Database, and four logicalprocess-modules of Initial Process, Motion Planning Process, MotionGenerating Process and Motion Monitor Process.
 2. The system of claim 1,wherein, said self-adaptive control algorithm is stored in said motioncontrol board in the form of EPROM and Flash memory and can be renewedand upgraded by end users.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the InitialProcess collects the ID numbers of every module when the system ispowered on, enabling the configuration to be recognized by the systemwhen said stored parameters from the Motion Strategy Database areextracted for use in later stage.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein thespeed (rpm) of a DC motor, as a control parameter used and stored in theMotion Strategy Database, with respect to time r(t) is a function ofduty cycle with respect to time c(t) expressed in the formula:r(t)=f(c(t)).
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the orientation anddisplacement of the robotic arm, as control parameters used and storedin the Motion Strategy Database, are calculated by the integral ofangular and translational velocity, respectively, by specifying the dutycycle in discrete time domain (rather than in continuous time domain) inthe formula,${{p( T_{k + 1} )} = {a{\sum\limits_{i - {0\sim k}}\; {{f( {c( T_{i} )} )}( {T_{i + 1} - T_{i}} )}}}},$where p(T_(k+1)) is the displacement at time step k+1, a the constantratio; wherein the sensors are either joint sensors to sense positionand acceleration/deceleration, or end-point sensors to sense thephysical interaction between the gripped disk and the environment. 6.The system of claim 5, wherein the duplication embedded control boardfurther having a microprocessor, Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA),and memory, to control the data flow between writer drives I/O and datastorage such as a hard drive by Direct Memory Access (DMA) orInterrupt-driven I/O methods.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein thegeometry datum plane is a mechanical restriction to regulate thegeometry relationship among each modules, wherein the geometryrelationship between said the duplication tower module and the diskstacks has to be in the effective trajectory region of the robot arm. 8.The system of claim 7, wherein the communication channel comprises aRS232-compatible chip to transfer communication data between motioncontrol board and duplication control board.